


scenes from a rebuilding year

by FoxGlade



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 17:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20362639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxGlade/pseuds/FoxGlade
Summary: Ben and Sammy make a plan for Valentine's Day. Lily adjusts to life in the Bro Cave.(Tag to Episode 80: Three's Company)





	scenes from a rebuilding year

The Bro Cave - Ben’s apartment - Ben and Sammy’s apartment, sure, it’s… not the worst place she’s stayed. It’s better than the motel room she’d been haunting, in terms of cleanliness, at least, even if she doubts Sammy had been keeping it that way since he’d moved in. In terms of the company?

“It just needs to be perfect,” Ben repeats, tapping the whiteboard propped up on the table. Its has Operation: Candlenight written across the top. Lily has yet to ask, but reluctantly still has full knowledge of the plan.

“I really don’t think she’ll mind if it’s not,” Sammy says, slouched in the corner of the couch opposite the board. His ankle is resting on his knee, and he’s still wearing his stupid cargo shorts from the hike he and Ben had done earlier, and Lily hates his willingness to go along with this. “I don’t think she even cares about Valentine’s Day, she just wants to spend some time with you.”

“Barf,” Lily says. 

“Agreed.”

“Okay! But even if she doesn’t care, I do!” Ben says. “This is our first actual Valentines together, after that first year, with the - the--”

“The frog flinging affair,” Sammy says dryly. Lily is absolutely not intrigued.

“Yes. Yes, that. And every year after that it was just,” Here Ben does some interpretive dance movement that Sammy apparently understands perfectly, because he nods. “So I want this to be great. Fantastic. Perfect.” He pauses mid-motion. “Wait, have you been talking to Emily? Did she say something about Valentines?”

“No, I’ve never spoken to the woman before,” Sammy says. Ben flails again. “Yes, Ben, we talked about Valentines, because we’re friends who hang out without you sometimes. I didn’t give her any goddamn state secrets, I just said you were planning already.”

“No details? Loose lips sink ships, Sammy.  _ Relationships. _ ” Sammy holds his hands up in surrender.

“Cross my heart,” he promises, and then actually crosses his heart. Ugh.

It was one thing putting up with Sammy’s overly emotional, borderline romantic best-friendship when she just had to listen to them spew their feelings across the 2-6am timeslot, but it’s been a whole different ballgame actually seeing it up close. And it’s not like she thought they were putting on personas to get the listeners invested or anything - okay, she may have thought that for a while, just given Sammy’s personal history. He’s had practice, and surely there had to be some ulterior motive to show off that kind of intimacy with another guy considering the lengths he used to go to in order to hide it - the point being. It hadn’t really sunk in, even when they’d done that Wright On episode, that they really are just like this. All the goddamn time.

“Was she excited? Oh man, what if she has expectations… I’m bringing back the doves,” Ben says, re-writing over a hastily rubbed off section of whiteboard sharpie. Sammy lurches to his feet.

“Ben, no, doves are absolutely off the table,” he says. Ben scoffs.

“Duh, Sammy, they’d be under the table, waiting for me to pull the string and release them,” he says. Sammy rubs his face with one hand and plants the other on Ben’s shoulder.

“If I tell you what she expects, are you gonna follow it?” he asks. Ben nods quickly.

“Obviously,” he says. “Whatever she wants. I just wanna make sure she feels special that night, right? Because she is. And I know I say that all the time, but I need her to know it for sure.”

Lily does her best to melt into the armchair entirely, scowling the whole time. If there’s anything worse than the constant lovefest that is the Ben and Sammy Show Unplugged, it’s the undying devotion Ben has to the role of beloved boyfriend to Emily Potter. And if there’s anything worse than  _ that _ …

“I know,” Sammy says, and they smile softly at each other for a long few moments.

… it’s when Sammy throws himself into that whole mess too, abandoning Lily on her usual tower of cynicism and disgust for genuine human interaction and emotion.

“Ben, she just wants to be around you,” Sammy says fondly. “Nothing fancy, just a chance to spend some quality time with you, without the sourpuss here.”

“Aha! Now I know you’re lying, because Emily would never say she doesn’t want to hang out with you,” Ben replies, poking Sammy in the ribs. Sammy laughs in that new way he does, more like a giggle than anything. It never fails to make Lily simultaneously glad and miserable, because it’s what he sounded like in the old days, with her, with Jack. It’s a sign that he’s moving on. It’s a sign that she should, too.

“Okay, okay, I editorialised, but she did say she just wanted to be with you,” Sammy says, batting Ben away. “I really think you should just stick with the second plan. Make a nice card, get a dessert to share, the classic bait and switch saying you forgot to get something. She loves your lame and predictable surprises.”

“She does, doesn’t she,” Ben says, a sappy glazed look spreading over his face. Sammy rolls his eyes and glances to Lily, seeking solidarity that she refuses to give him.

“If you want my advice,” she starts.

“We don’t.”

“I’d tell you to keep it simple. Honestly, when men make a big deal out of Valentines Day, all it says is, ‘I only wanna make an effort once a year, and maybe on birthdays!’. If you treat it like any other date, it shows that you care the same amount on Valentines as you do on any date, and that amount is, quite frankly, way too much. But, you know, for Emily Potter I can kind of see the appeal.”

She leans back in her chair and looks over her nails, revelling in the stunned silence. What? She can do the romance, too.

“That’s… surprisingly reasonable,” Sammy says slowly. 

“Amazing, what happens when you ask someone who actually likes girls about dating girls,” she says. 

“You said the exact same thing as me!” Sammy exclaims. “And I am  _ actually _ engaged, thanks, I think I know the basics of dating.”

Ben makes a wounded noise to match his sudden Bambi expression. He tugs on Sammy’s flannel shirt and says, “I’m sorry, Sammy, I didn’t - is this okay? We don’t have to talk about, about dating stuff if you don’t want to…”

“Ben,” Sammy says, exasperated, “I asked to help. Obviously I want to.” He shoots a look at Lily that’s full of smug irritation. “And besides, who wouldn’t want to vicariously live out a date with Emily Potter, right?”

“Fuck off, Stevens,” Lily grumbles, over the sound of Ben saying, “Come on, Sammy, not you too…”

**Author's Note:**

> so hi folks!! here in australia i have about five minutes left of the 23rd of August 2019, which is the ten year anniversary of the very first fic i ever posted, back on fanfic dot net. i beg thee not to look it up. but in honour of the occasion, i finally decided to haul out this chunk of fic that nellie has been begging me to publish for, hm, literally half a year now (as it was written immediately after the episode came out in february).
> 
> forgive the ramble but, over the last ten years i've published (not including this one) 66 fics for 30 different fandoms, totaling 255,231 words, on ao3!! tbh im much prouder of my multitudes of unpublished fics, the word count of which is at least 500k if not more. it's been so much fun being a part of so many fandoms and contributing to the labours of love we call fanfiction, and i hope to contribute a lot more in the decades to come!!
> 
> thank you king falls for being one of the nicest fandoms i've written for in my ten years. thank you!!


End file.
